ABSTRACT
This chapter explains what it means to have a guardian appointed for an incapacitated person and what the consequences are for that person’s legal rights and privileges. It provides an overview of how to obtain a guardianship. The law presumes that every adult has the mental ability, or mental capacity as it is commonly known, to make rational decisions about his or her property and person. A state’s authority to determine whether an individual is mentally incapacitated and to appoint a guardian comes from the state’s general authority to protect the welfare of its citizens. Guardianship is the legal process of providing a substitute decisionmaker for a mentally incapacitated individual. The goal of functional-based definitions is to narrow the use of guardianship to only those persons who truly lack the mental capability to care for themselves. The type of guardianship granted by a court depends on both the ward’s needs and the court’s jurisdiction.
